Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot

A Peace Prize for President Potty Mouth?

This morning, The Guardian posted a video of Donald Trump answering a question about the continued exchange of bombs and missiles between Israel and Iran since he announced a ceasefire with so much fanfare. Trump’s Truth Social trail tells the story of the rise and fall of a beautiful ceasefire the likes of which no one has ever seen before.

The first post was quick. Trump, like Pete Hegseth, can’t wait to blurt things out once they gain his attention.

Since he also can’t shut up, Trump followed up with another post. You will notice that he used all-caps for every instance of “ceasefire.” The voice in your mind as you read this should be that of Kimberly Guilfoyle’s manic “best is yet to come” speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention, or imagine a bag lady who has just snorted a massive amount of cocaine.

Finally, Donald Trump was guaranteed the Nobel Peace Prize he so richly deserved. Republicans in Congress raced to be the first to nominate him. Georgia’s Buddy Carter won. (This is not the first time a Republican congressman has nominated Donald Trump for the prize.)

As usual, Trump was supremely confident in his assessment of the ceasefire. Surely, Israel was not going to attack Iran. But why are their planes flying that direction?

Oh no! Israel did not pay attention to this matter! Time for some all-caps shouting. Surely that will work.

Reader, Israel dropped those bombs. They even ignored the all-caps. That was a MAJOR VIOLATION. This will go on their permanent record. Even for the world’s greatest negotiator, best businessman, and most devout Christian, diplomacy is hard.

And so, as Trump walked to Marine One for his trip to the NATO summit, he was bigly mad. Israel’s bomb dropping caused him to drop an f-bomb. Here’s a short clip of the President of the United States using what the adult Ralphie narrating A Christmas Story calls “THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the ‘F-dash-dash-dash’ word!”

WTF? Someone should wash that guy’s mouth out with soap. I would pay to see that.

The question is whether this even matters, and I believe it does for a few reasons:

• Trump and MAGA have taken us into the post-truth world of U.S. politics, but we should not go easily into that world or a post-decency world.

• Use of vulgar language in a inappropriate setting reveals a lack of maturity and self-control. Yes, we already knew Trump lacked those things, but he should still have to expend the energy required to hide it—or at least attempt to do so.

• Shouldn’t the President of the United States be a role model? Unfortunately, this man is a role model. That is why Young Republicans get caught making sexist, homophobic, and racist remarks on their message boards.

• Senators and representatives in Congress should be a check on the behavior of the executive branch as well as its policy actions. How many Republicans in Congress will demand better? How many will tell the President to grow up and comport himself like a professional? We know the answer: zero.

On that last point, I hope they prove me wrong. I hope they find the courage to demand decency.

They won’t.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!